Join 500+ writers, creatives, misfits, and weirdos and learn to write like you mean it in 10 minutes a week. Get ONE practical tip, story, or shenanigan every Tuesday + a creative goodie bag on Friday 🖖🏼
This is what February looks like
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Reading time: 1.52 442 words Hey Reader, On February 5th, you’re going to look back at early January and not recognise yourself. You’ll have 30 pieces of writing squirrelled away. Some will be brilliant. Some will be shite. All of them will be yours. In your unique voice, through your singular lens. You’ll love at least some of your writing (probably more than you expect) and as you gaze at your work, you’ll realise this is more writing than most people do in a year. There’ll be stories, observations, love letters, jokes, silliness, rants, and poetry. Some of them might be 100 words, some might be 1,000, or more. Your range will surprise you — it’s not all LinkedIn posts and motivational messages. There’s so much more out there for you. These 30 pieces aren’t throw-away exercises. You’ll have material you can develop into blog posts, LinkedIn content, newsletter pieces. Stories you can polish and publish. Observations that could become book chapters. You’re not starting from scratch anymore — you’ve got a repository of ideas that excite you, that you want to work with. Most exciting of all, you’ll have found a way to write that actually fits your life. Not a practice you’ve read about in a book. Not someone else’s 5am routine that makes you want to die. YOURS. The one you’ve created that works for your brain and your commitments and your energy. You’ll know what time of day works for you. What types of prompts light you up and which make you stifle a yawn. You’ll know how to show up, even when you feel like crawling under a blanket and eating too much cheese. Writing won’t feel like punishment anymore and you’ll want to keep going, maybe for the rest of the year, maybe for the rest of your life. And as for you, my fine feathered friend: this isn’t about perfectionism. I don’t mind if you miss a day, if you don’t mind (although I hope this is small enough that you don’t miss a day). You’ll have proof that you can show up and follow through and do the thing you said you’d do. It was never that you were broken or lazy; you just needed to figure out the best way for you to write. You’ll have proof that you’re a real writer. That changes how you see yourself and it changes what you believe you’re capable of. What do you want your February to look like? What do you want to be able to say you did at the start of 2026? This is how you get there. Join January Uncaged.
TTFN, Vicky 🫡 p.s. Know someone who might enjoy this email? Please forward it to them and get them to sign up here.
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Learn to Write Like You Mean It
Join 500+ writers, creatives, misfits, and weirdos and learn to write like you mean it in 10 minutes a week. Get ONE practical tip, story, or shenanigan every Tuesday + a creative goodie bag on Friday 🖖🏼
Reading time: 1.26 338 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, When Louise joined one of my writing programs years ago, she couldn’t move. Literally: she had a medical condition that left her immobile, off work, struggling to fill her days with anything meaningful. She wasn’t a writer. Or a reader. And no idea what she was doing. Three months later, she had 66,000 words — a full first draft of the book that had been rattling around in her head. You can hear her full writing journey...
Reading time: 0.27 107 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, Your “terrible” first draft isn’t proof that you’re a terrible writer. It’s proof that you’re a writer. As Anne Lamott said, “All good writers write shitty first drafts. This is how they end up with good second drafts and terrific third drafts.” But don’t worry about that right now. The secret is to find some joy in the mess. And that’s what we’re doing in January Uncaged. Daily prompts, a judgement-free Telegram group,...
Reading time: 3.55 929 words Read this email in your browser. Hey Reader, “Writing is the most fun you can have by yourself.” My favourite author, Sir Terry Pratchett, said that, and he’s right. But writing isn’t a solo sport. It kind of looks like it is, when you see a book or an article with one person’s name on the front. But then you turn to the acknowledgements and realise there’s a whoooooole lot of people involved in the creative process. My husband and my cats are integral to my...